- Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan (1364–1430) was a writer and analyst of the medieval era who strongly challenged the clerical misogyny and stereotypes that were prevalent in the male-dominated realm of the arts. De Pizan completed forty-one pieces during her thirty-year career (1399–1429). She earned her accolade as Europe’s first professional woman writer (Redfern 74). - Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was the author or compiler of "Le Morte d'Arthur". The antiquary John Leland believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholarship assumes that he was Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire. The surname appears in various spellings, including Maillorie, Mallory, Mallery, and Maleore. - Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Little is known of his life, but he seems to have been from Troyes, or at least intimately connected with it, and between 1160 and 1172 he served at the court of his patroness Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, perhaps as herald-at-arms (as Gaston Paris speculated). His work on Arthurian subjects represents some of the best of medieval literature. - Wolfram von Eschenbach
Wolfram von Eschenbach (born c. 1170, died c. 1220) was a German knight and poet, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of his time. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry. - Nennius
Nennius, or Nemnivus, is either of two shadowy personages traditionally associated with the history of Wales. The better known of the two is Nennius, the student of Elvodugus. Elvodugus is commonly identified with the bishop Elfoddw of Gwynedd, who convinced the rest of the Welsh portion of Celtic Christianity to celebrate Easter on the same date as the other Catholics in Britain in 768, … - Robert de Boron
Robert de Boron was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, originally from the village of Boron, in the arrondissement of Montbéliard. He was the author of a two surviving poems in octosyllabic verse, "Joseph d'Arimathe" and "Merlin"; "Merlin" survives only in fragments and in later prosification. The two are thought to have been part of a trilogy (or tetralogy) which also contained a verse "Perceval", … - Walter Map
Walter Map (fl. 1160-1196, died c. 1208-1210) was a medieval writer. He claims Welsh origin and to be a man of the Welsh Marches ("marchio sum Walensibus"); details in his writings suggest that he came from Herefordshire. He studied at the University of Paris, apparently around 1160 when Gerard la Pucelle was teaching there. He had encountered Thomas Becket before 1162. - Julian Of Norwich
Julian of Norwich is considered to be one of the greatest English mystics. Little is known of her life aside from her writings. Even her name is uncertain, the name "Julian" coming from the Church of St Julian in Norwich, where she was an anchoress, meaning that she was walled into the church behind the altar during a mass for the dead. At the age of thirty, suffering from a severe illness and believing she was on her deathbed, Julian had a series of intense visions. - Gottfried von Strassburg
Gottfried von Strassburg (died c. 1210) is the author of the Middle High German courtly romance "Tristan", which is regarded, alongside Wolfram von Eschenbach's "Parzival" and the "Nibelungenlied", as one of great narrative masterpieces of the German Middle Ages. He is also the composer of a small number of surviving lyrics. - Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294), also known as Doctor Mirabilis, was one of the most famous Franciscan friars of his time. An English philosopher who placed considerable emphasis on empiricism, he was one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method. Later studies have emphasised his reliance on occult and alchemical traditions. - Gervase Of Tilbury
Gervase of Tilbury (c.1150 - c. 1228) was a thirteenth-century canon lawyer, statesman and writer, apparently born in either East Tilbury or West Tilbury, in Essex, England. He was of aristocratic stock, claiming kinship with Patrick, Earl of Salisbury, and mentioning of his kith who were descended from a fey serpent-woman recognizable as the melusine, which would suggest he was allied with the House of Lusignan in Poitou. - Isidore Of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville (Spanish: or), Latin: (c. 560 - April 4, 636) was Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and has the reputation of being one of the great scholars of the early Middle Ages. All the later medieval history-writing of Hispania were based on his histories. At a time of disintegration of classical culture, and aristocratic violence and illiteracy, he was involved in the conversion of the royal Visigothic Arians to Catholicism, … - William Of Newburgh
William of Newburgh (1136? - 1198?), also known as William Parvus, was a 12th century English historian and Augustinian canon from Yorkshire. - Jean de Meun
Jean de Meun or Jean de Meung (c.1250-c.1305) was a French author best known for his continuation of the "Roman de la Rose". - Duns Scotus
Blessed John Duns Scotus (c. 1266 - November 8, 1308) was a theologian, philosopher, and logician. Some argue that during his tenure at Oxford, the systematic examination of what differentiates theology from philosophy and science began in earnest. He was one of the most influential theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages, nicknamed "Doctor Subtilis" for his penetrating manner of thought. - William Langland
William Langland is the conjectured author of the 14th-century English dream-vision Piers Plowman. The attribution of "Piers" to Langland rests principally on the evidence of a manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin (MS 212). This directly ascribes 'Perys Ploughman' to one 'Willielmi de Langlond', son of 'Stacy de Rokayle, who died in Shipton-under-Wichwood, a tenant of the Lord Spenser in the county of Oxfordshire'. - Gerard Of Cremona
Gerard of Cremona (Italian: Gerardo da Cremona; Latin: Gerardus Cremonensis; c. 1114 - 1187), was an Italian translator of Arabic scientific works. He was one of a small group of scholars who invigorated medieval Europe in the 12th century by transmitting Greek and Arab traditions in astronomy, medicine and other sciences, in the form of translations into Latin, which made them available to every literate person in the West. - William Of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury (c. 1080/1095-c. 1143), English historian of the 12th century, was born about the year 1080/1095, in Wiltshire. His father was Norman and his mother English. He spent his whole life in England with his most productive working years as a monk at Malmesbury Abbey. - Peter Lombard
Peter Lombard or Petrus Lombardus was a scholastic theologian and bishop and author of "Four Books of Sentences", which became the standard textbook of theology, for which he is also known as Magister Sententiarum. Peter Lombard was born in Lumellogno near Novara, Lombardy, to a poor family on the dole. His date of birth was likely between 1095 and 1100. Nothing is known for certain in regard to his origins, his social background, … - Margery Kempe
Margery Kempe is known for writing "The Book of Margery Kempe", a work considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language. This book chronicles, to some extent, her extensive pilgrimages to various holy sites in Europe and Asia. - William Caxton
William Caxton was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. He was the first English person to work as a printer and the first person to introduce a printing press into England. He was also the first English retailer of books (his London contemporaries were all Dutch, German or French). - John Of Salisbury
John of Salisbury, English author, diplomat and bishop of Chartres, was born at Salisbury. Beyond the fact that he was of Saxon, not of Norman extraction, and applied to himself the cognomen of "Parvus", "short," or "small," few details are known regarding his early life; but from his own statements it is gathered that he crossed to France about 1136, and began regular studies in Paris under Pierre Abélard, … - John Lydgate
John Lydgate of Bury was a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England. - Hildegard Of Bingen
Selected English translations of Hildegard *Atherton, Mark, trans. "Hildegard of Bingen: Selected Writings". London: Penguin, 2001. *Baird, Joseph L. and Radd K. Ehrman, trans. "The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen". Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. *—, trans. "The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen". Vol. II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. *—, trans. "The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen". Vol. III. - John Mandeville
"Jehan de Mandeville", translated as "Sir John Mandeville", is the name claimed by the compiler of a singular book of supposed travels, written in Anglo-Norman French, and published between 1357 and 1371. By aid of translations into many other languages it acquired extraordinary popularity. Despite the extremely unreliable and often fantastical nature of the travels it describes, it was used as a work of reference - Christopher Columbus, for example, … - Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson (1178 - September 23, 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet and politician. He was twice lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He was the author of the "Prose Edda" or "Younger Edda", which consists of "Gylfaginning" ("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology, the "Skáldskaparmál", a book of poetic language, and the "Háttatal", a list of verse forms. - John Barbour
John Barbour (c. 1316 - March 13, 1395), Scottish poet, was born, perhaps in Aberdeenshire, early in the 14th century, approximately 1316. - Guibert Of Nogent
Guibert of Nogent (1053-1124) was a Benedictine historian, theologian and author of autobiographical memoirs. Guibert was relatively unknown in his own time, going virtually unmentioned by his contemporaries. He has only recently caught the attention of scholars who have been more interested in his extensive autobiographical memoirs and personality which provide insight into medieval life. Guibert was born of noble parents at Clermont-en-Beauvaisis. - Ibn Ishaq
Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar, or simply Ibn Ishaq (meaning "the son of Isaac") (died 767, or 761 (Robinson 2003, p. xv)) was an Arab Muslim historian. He collected oral traditions that formed the basis of first biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. This biography usually called "Sirat Rasul Allah" ("Life of Allah's Messenger"). - Guillaume de Lorris
Guillaume de Lorris (fl. 1230) was a French epic poet, and was the author of the first section of the "Romance of the Rose". Little is known about him, other than that he wrote the earlier section of the poem around 1230, and that the work was completed forty years later by Jean de Meun. - Nicole Oresme
Nicole Oresme, also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme (c. 1323 - July 11, 1382) was one of the most famous and influential philosophers of the later Middle Ages. He was an economist, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, philosopher, psychologist, and musicologist, a passionate theologian and Bishop of Lisieux, a competent translator, counselor of King Charles V of France, … - Ramon Llull
Ramon Llull was a Majorcan writer and philosopher born into a wealthy family in Palma, Majorca, in the Balearic Islands, then part of the Crown of Aragon, now part of Spain. He wrote the first major work of Catalan language literature. Recently surfaced manuscripts show him to have anticipated by several centuries prominent work on elections theory. He is sometimes considered a pioneer of computation theory, especially given his influence on Leibniz. - Anselm Of Canterbury
Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 - April 21 1109) was an Italian medieval philosopher, theologian, and church official who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. Called the founder of scholasticism, he is famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God and as the archbishop who openly opposed the Crusades. - Gonzalo de Berceo
Gonzalo de Berceo was a Spanish poet born in the Riojan village of Berceo, close to the major Benedictine monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. He is celebrated for his poems on religious subjects, written in a style of verse which has been called Mester de Clerecía, shared with more secular productions such as the "Libro de Alexandre", the "Libro de Apolonio", and later works such as the 14th century "Libro de Buen Amor". - Catherine Of Siena
Saint Catherine of Siena (March 25, 1347 - April 29, 1380) was a Dominican Tertiary (lay affiliate) of the Dominican Order. Catherine was the 23rd child out of 25 (her twin sister, the 24th, died at birth); her parents were Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, and his wife, Lapa Piagenti, daughter of a local poet. A native of Siena, Catherine received no formal education. - Gertrude The Great
Gertrude the Great (January 6 1256-November 17 1301) was a German Benedictine and mystic writer. Gertrude was born January 6 1256, in Eisleben, Thuringia, Holy Roman Empire). Nothing is known of her parents, so she was probably an orphan. As a young girl, she joined the Benedictine monastery in Helfta, under the direction of its abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn. (In later years the monastery was mislabeled as a Cistercian monastery.) She dedicated herself to her studies, … - Henry Of Huntingdon
Henry of Huntingdon (c. 1080-1160) was an English historian of the 12th century and archdeacon of Huntingdon. Most well known for his "Historia Anglorum" ("History of the English") covering the period from the Roman invasion in 43 BC to the accession of Henry II in 1154. It has been estimated that about seventy-five percent derives directly from others' work through direct quotation, translation or summarization, … - Roger Of Wendover
Roger of Wendover (died May 6, 1236), probably a native of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was an English chronicler of the 13th century. At some uncertain date he became a monk at St Albans Abbey; afterwards he was appointed prior of the cell of Belvoir, but he forfeited this dignity in the early years of Henry III, having been found guilty of wasting the endowments. His latter years were passed at St Albans, where he died on May 6, 1236. - Aneirin
Aneirin or Neirin was a late 6th century Brythonic poet. He is believed to have been a bard or 'court poet' in one of the Cumbric kingdoms of the "Old North" or Hen Ogledd, probably that of Gododdin at Edinburgh, in modern Scotland. From the 17th century, his name was often incorrectly spelled Aneurin. - Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet, and a maid of honor of the imperial court during the Heian period. She was born about 978 in Kyoto, Japan. "Murasaki Shikibu" was not her real name; her actual name is unknown, though some scholars have postulated that her given name might have been "Takako" (for Fujiwara Takako). Her diary states that she was nicknamed "Murasaki" ("purple wisteria blossom") at court, …
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